THE IRELAND OF TO-D. 33 



probably not to be found among any other West- 

 ran people. The bare earthen floor will 



i.ahly he found in most of them. The Irish 



rd of life is extraordinarily 1- ! there- 



1 these outward signs of poverty are in a 



certain sense <Hng. The Irishman is frc- 



ntly not so poor as one mi^ht conclude from 



r of living. The power of existing 



table conditions of life, of eking out 



md of propagating his species on soil 



where a Central European goat would die oi 



hunger, has doubtless preserved the Irish people 



mg the long period of scorn and oppression. 



But this also which nowadays makes 



economic progress and development so infinitely 



It. A people which is contented wit! 

 little milk and potatoes, with tobacco, a little 

 y and strong but bad tea, does not produce 

 ments which the modern industrial world 

 requires. 



About one-third of the Irish population, alto- 



;ier 1,384,929, lives in the towns; of these 



,463 live in nine boroughs, that is tov 



which elect members of Parliament. Whilst the 



total population since 1891 has decreased by 



some thousands, the population of the towns 



grown by 139,670. If we examine the town 



population with regard to religious conditions, 



md that there are in the boroughs 59.5 per 



cent, of Roman Catholics, and in the remaining 



towns 62.6 per cent. Thus the proportion of 



holies to Protestants is less favourable in the 



